The Mission Bay High School (MBHS) Buccaneers varsity basketball team is off to a 6-4 start this year after a resounding 58-39 win over the Mount Miguel Matadors on Jan. 12.

Senior Jared Kane led MBHS with 16 points, while fellow seniors T.J. Gatdoar led the team in rebounds with 18 and junior Isaiah Milan had four assists.

The Bucs come off back-to-back Division III CIF championship games and consecutive appearances in the CIF playoff the past two years. The Bucs lost by one point each time.

“We’re very young and very inexperienced while trying to learn on the job,” said MBHS head coach Dennis Kane.

The Buccaneers began the regular season with a 2-2 record and a fourth-place finish in the 66th annual Kiwanis Tournament, posting impressive wins over Serra (61-33) and Liberty (72-31) but followed it up with a 51-33 loss to Mira Mesa, a 55-34 win over Saint Alberta and a 55-52 loss to Willow Glen.

Mission Bay opened Western League play with a 51-48 defeat against University City on Jan. 8 as Jared Kane led the Bucs in with 19 points.

The Bucs’ rebounded with a 37-33 win over Scripps Ranch, as Kane led the Bucs in again with 13 points.

Dennis Kane is in his ninth year as MBHS head coach. He said he believes this year’s team is “a work in progress,” unlike the previous two years.

“[The last two teams] knew what they were capable of, knew their roles and were unselfish,” said Dennis Kane. “The whole was greater than the sum of the parts but we graduated all five starters from last year. There is no substitute for experience.”

Overall, MBHS graduated 7 of the 13 players on its roster from the previous year.

Mission Bay’s remaining home games will be against St. Augustine (Jan. 17), Cathedral Catholic (Jan. 18), University City (Feb. 5) and Lincoln (Feb. 14), all starting times at 7:30 p.m.